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“Engineers put a new chain on it and reopened the ride again on Wednesday for the schools coming in.

“The engineers were working on the tops of the rollercoasters and seemed to be replacing a few parts.

“Then, on Saturday, it was closed again. They were sending the ­rollercoaster round with 30kg water drums in all the seats, as if they were testing the weight. They have done a lot of maintenance on the ride all week.”

He added: “I don’t think the chain has anything to do with what happened but to watch the ride, people had been saying there was something not right.

“It was jamming and jerking.”

Hollie Aitken saw the tragic accident unfold in front of her.

Schoolgirl Hollie Aitken told how she was on the Tsunami when it got stuck on Saturday.

Hollie, 15, visited M&D’s with her sister Chloe and said she could tell there was ­something wrong with the ride.

She planned to visit the theme park on Sunday but, to the relief of her mum, changed her plans to go a day earlier.

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She said: “I went on the ride with my sister on Saturday and I could tell there was something wrong.

“There were lots of glitches. It should be a smooth ride but it kept jumping and when it was making its way up the hill, it stopped for about a minute or a minute and a half.

“When I heard what happened on Sunday, I was shocked, I was ready for greetin’. My pal had been on it just minutes before it derailed.

Joyce Aitken and her daughter Hollie witnessed the horrific accident.

“The workers should have known about it. They had started doing test runs on Saturday and when we left they had a ­maintenance sign up.

“Surely if they were running maintenance checks then it should have been sorted for the next day.”

Hollie’s mum Joyce said it reminded her of the rollercoaster crash that left five passengers ­seriously injured at Alton Towers last year.

Two people had legs amputated after the collision on the Smiler ride, while three others suffered life-changing injuries.

She said: “The whole thing has left me feeling sick.

“I thought the Alton Towers accident last year was bad but for this to happen so close to home has put me off theme parks forever.

“My daughters were going to go on Sunday but thankfully they changed their minds and went on Saturday instead.

Police and the HSE at the scene of the rollercoaster crash at M&D's. (Image: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

“I keep thinking, ‘That could have been Hollie and Chloe injured there.’

“When they said it got stuck on Saturday then that should’ve set alarm bells ringing.”

HSE principal inspector Barry Baker is leading the probe into the crash.

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He said: “Our thoughts are with the children and adults who have been injured in this incident and I must give praise to the ­emergency services and members of the public who came to their aid so quickly yesterday.

“We have brought HSE ­specialists in mechanical ­engineering to the site this morning, to begin the process of finding out what caused the gondolas to come off the rails.

“HSE will work very closely with colleagues in the police as the investigation unfolds.”

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The park is owned and operated by brothers Matthew and Douglas Taylor.

Douglas Taylor, a director of M&D’s, said: “Our thoughts are with the people who have been injured and their families. We hope everyone makes a full recovery.

“We’re cooperating fully with the joint HSE and Police Scotland investigation. It would be ­inappropriate to speculate on the cause of the accident until the investigation is complete.

“Every ride within the theme park is safety checked on a daily basis and undergoes a ­thorough independent inspection every 12 months. Tsunami had its annual independent safety inspection in early June 2016.